A Devil Put Aside

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
- 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' Queen (1975)

'This way,' Dory hissed, grabbing Lily by the elbow so they could duck down a side corridor and dodge the worst of traffic between classes.

'What, huh -'

'Mistletoe. Mistletoe everywhere. It's like a trap of slobbery mouths of slobbery boys.'

Lily wrinkled her nose as they took this most inefficient of routes to Charms. 'You could just say no, Dory, it's not like it's there's an Unbreakable on it.'

'Yeah, but then they look like kicked puppies, and I just don't need that kind of negativity in my life. And you don't need Wick sad because other boys accosted you under mistletoe.'

'I don't,' Lily agreed, 'but then I also say no, and anyway people aren't lining up to randomly snog me just because it's Christmas.'

'I dunno,' said Dory darkly, turning sharp corners. 'After the stunt with Carrow, the school seems set to either murder you or canonise you.'

Lily didn't argue with that; all the cheer of the festive season had done nothing to diffuse the simmering undercurrent of anger running now through all echelons of the school. Pure-bloods were furious at the Muggle-borns for fighting back, Muggle-borns were furious at the Slytherins for Aubrey, and everyone was furious at the school for doing nothing. McGonagall had upped the prefect patrols, upped the staff patrols, made declarations in the Great Hall for those having trouble to come to a teacher, and of course nobody had budged. Abernathy and his ilk on the staff still turned a blind eye to pettiness in the corridor. Most students still feared Mulciber and his mob too much to speak up. All the respect in the world for the Deputy Headmistress couldn't change the simple fact that she was only one authority figure in a sea of apathy and incompetence, presiding over a staff who either refused to back her or couldn't do enough.

'Maybe you should make mistletoe work for you,' she said, instead of dwelling on that point. 'You know, there's lots in the common room; get some near the dormitory stairs -'

'Oh, yes, that'll be discreet if there's mistletoe on the stairs to the dormitories only girls can climb,' Dory sneered. 'Might as well start covering myself in rainbow tie-dye right now. Or declare my undying affection for Mary and then hurl myself bodily into the lake.'

'Better than all of this sad mooning.'

'It is not sad mooning, it is gentle pining, and I have it perfectly under control.'

'Do you want me to try to talk to Mary, take her temperature, that kind of thing -'

'What, her gay temperature?'

'I don't know!'

Dory threw her hands in the air. 'I have a plan. It's a good plan. I'm going to go home over Christmas. I'm going to get really drunk. And I'm going to get over her.'

Lily sighed. 'If you say so.'

The argument was cut short by their return to the main hum of traffic of students hurrying to class, with Charms and all of its complexities, or what Dory would call dullness, not far away and enough to distract Lily from the debate. Until an even better distraction came along as they spotted, heading the other way, Alecto Carrow and her twin shadows of Yaxley and Barkwith. Lily felt Alecto's eyes fall on her, a venomous glare it was had to not return with a defiant stare.

Dory proved to have a better idea, starting to hum and then bursting into song with, 'I see a little silhouette of a man!' exactly as the three Slytherins passed. So Lily had to join in. It was the rules, really, to sing along to Queen, and that it would not just anger but confuse someone like Alecto was even better. And then the trio were gone, and Lily and Dory still had a way to go to Charms, and once they'd started singing Bohemian Rhapsody they couldn't exactly stop, so they got to class with Dory bouncing along with enthusiastic air guitar as Lily belted out, 'Can't do this to me, baby!' and received the most bewildered looks Flitwick had ever given them.

'If you could, ah, settle down, Miss Evans, Miss Meadowes…'

It was a bright way to start Charms, but in hindsight Lily would realise she shouldn't have expected to get away with such a blatant and loud insult of Alecto Carrow in the middle of the corridor - and by now, any Muggle singing was taken as an act of defiance.

Flitwick called for them both to wait behind once he dismissed class for lunch, and they exchanged tired looks as they went to the front to find the little Charms teacher wringing his hands together. 'I certainly have no objections to high spirits,' he stammered. 'But a little more decorum coming into class might be appropriate -'

'Oh,' said Lily, unapologetic. 'You mean you'd be happier if we were singing Taliesin or another magical band.' Flitwick could only sputter indignantly at that implication and insist no, that wasn't what he meant, but he dismissed them quickly.

They emerged in the corridor to find Marlene lingering, and Lily had to give her an apologetic smile. 'Black's already gone. He and Potter made off like rockets the moment Flitwick dismissed us.'

'Oh,' sighed Marlene. 'I thought we were going to meet - I must have been unclear.'

A part of Lily thought Marlene was making trouble for herself, but the girl was so well-meaning she had to feel sorry. She slipped in beside her and took her arm. 'Come have lunch with us, then, if the boy's run off to do things.'

'Aren't you - I don't want to intrude.'

'It'll be fine,' Lily insisted, and silently added, We'll keep Jack on a leash.

They found Jack halfway to the Great Hall, and while he gave Marlene a level look when he realised she was joining them, he didn't comment. Dory was quick to bounce over to him, quick as ever to divert. 'Flitwick hates Red's singing.'

Jack looked again at Marlene, then clicked his tongue and focused on Dory, normal Jack again. 'That just means Flitwick's got taste.'

'Hey! I might not be due an invite to Burke's band, but don't act like dogs start howling the moment I sing -'

Which was when they rounded the corner to one of the wider corridors, usually a crowded passageway this time of day, only to find hardly any students there and their way blocked by Alecto Carrow, Rosalind Yaxley, and Clara Barkwith.

Lily took one look at them, one look at the wands already drawn, and let her own slip from her sleeve into her hand. It was becoming a more practiced, comfortable motion by now, and she glanced at the other three. 'Jack?' she murmured. 'How about you and Marlene watch our backs?' Dory muttered an oath, but her wand was also drawn when she fell into step beside Lily, and as they approached, Alecto gave a short giggle.

'You think you're so smart, don't you, Evans?'

Lily snorted. 'Smarter than you, Carrow. Next question?'

Alecto Carrow glared. 'You're not. You thought you'd get away with it, embarrassing my brother, trying to embarrass me?'

Dory shrugged. 'Didn't know you were so delicate our singing embarrasses you. I mean, know Red isn't very good...'

'Also, your brother embarrasses himself; he doesn't need my help,' said Lily. 'Are we done, or are you going to keep playing twenty questions?' She glanced up and down the corridor. Alecto must have thrown her weight around to get most people to clear off, but it was impossible for this part of school to be abandoned at this time of day. Behind Carrow students still lingered, watching from afar with big eyes, spectating but not getting involved and, Lily suspected, providing a buffer so teachers didn't see what was going on and would struggle to intervene. A look over her shoulder showed Randal Mulciber and his mob watching from a distance, and her throat tightened. Jack was still eyeballing them and they weren't coming any closer, but that could change at any moment.

'I'm not done,' Alecto Carrow was saying. 'You're done, Evans. You don't get to strut around, little Mudblood like you, like you own this place.'

Lily and Dory exchanged a glance. The Slytherins had them outnumbered, but this was a more public challenge than any issued so far, and with a sinking realisation, Lily knew why Carrow was goading instead of acting. It was much easier for the Slytherins to get away with this if they didn't open fire first. Lily watched as Dory reached the same conclusion, eyebrows rising with an unspoken question, and Lily could only answer with the smallest, nervous grin.

Dory rounded on Alecto. 'Oh, lay off, Carrow, just because Graham Mulciber's gone and ditched you like last week's leftovers, smelling about as good -'

Which was when the spells started flying. Because Alecto Carrow had never been one of nature's most patient creatures, and Dorcas Meadowes always knew how to go for the jugular. Lily had been ready with a Shield to deflect Carrow's angry assault, and then Dory was throwing spells back too - nothing so practical as Stuns and curses for a quick take-down, but tickling charms and babbling hexes and anything which, if it hit its target, would make them look really, really silly.

The corridor erupted into cheers and jeers and sounds of panic. Behind her she could hear Jack shouting, but she couldn't make out the words and it didn't sound like he was fighting, too. But there was no time to worry about the outside world - just the fight here and now. It was still three on two, and Lily could only defend so much as Dory hurled spells at Carrow, Barkwith and Yaxley.

Then there was another burst of magic from her left, and a shrill, anxious voice exclaiming, 'Three on two's not fair!' and the slow but artfully perfect Stun from Marlene McKinnon sailed across the corridor. It hit Yaxley on the shoulder, enough to knock her down and force Barkwith to try to protect them both long enough to cast the counter-curse. Marlene kept coming, Dory now at her side, so that left Lily free to focus on Alecto.

'They'll call this the cat fight of the year, you know, Carrow,' Lily said, ducking as Alecto threw a high hex. 'Just girls and their in-fighting.'

Alecto made a furious noise and her next spell didn't miss. Lily staggered back as she only Shielded most of the impact, the rest smacking her in the face. She tasted blood, felt it stream from her nose, her vision swimming. The frantic fight between the untrained other four continued next to them, colours of spells and witches blurring in together, the shouting all around her a kaleidoscope of sound, fury, fear. Dory had a cut across her cheek, Barkwith favoured her left arm, Marlene's blonde hair had turned loose into a wild nest, and Yaxley's robes were ripped, but details beyond that roiled together as Lily staggered.

So she had to throw herself bodily to the floor to dodge Alecto's next hex. The impact jolted her senses back, and she rolled up to one knee, hurling a blast at Carrow which forced the other witch back. Behind her she could hear Jack shouting, 'Don't even think of joining in, Sunshine!' and the quickest glance behind her showed him blocking off Mulciber and the rest, poised in a stand-off, either side waiting for the other to start throwing spells so the brawl could expand.

Mulciber doesn't want to get involved, Lily realised with a jolt. Way safer to send Alecto and watch.

She rose to her feet with her Shield spell at the tip of her thoughts, and advanced on Alecto. 'At best, Carrow, if anyone takes this seriously, they won't cheer you. They'll say you're just doing Mulciber's bidding - the bidding of both of them, really, which is a bit pathetic for you to still be doing their dirty work, your brother's dirty work, not even picking your own fights in your own right -'

Her plan had been simple: either enrage Alecto into making mistakes, or shame her so badly she'd break up the fight once she could and slink off. But this had to be a raw nerve, for it did indeed anger, and only by a moral judgement could the reaction be judged a mistake.

With a shriek of fury Alecto surged forward, wand whipping up, and Lily didn't even recognise the words she uttered. She did feel the impact on her Shield, and mercifully she'd been ready for some sort of retaliation. The blow rippled across her barriers, draining and tiring and sickening, and though it was the first truly dark hex she'd been hit with, something in her bones identified it. And then the fight was more than politics. More than insults. More than a petty rivalry which went back to their earliest days at this school, and her blood started pumping and her heart started thumping at an altogether different tempo, for this had become life and death.

Whatever lessons Potter had given her came blazing back, all the bits and pieces he'd told her which weren't about technical expertise but raw casting: keep your footwork quick, let the spell flow through the whole body, don't be afraid to dodge, all the bits and pieces professors never bothered to tell because for those who grew up living and breathing magic, they came as second nature. But Alecto was furious now, carrying on with her onslaught, and it was all Lily could do to keep her Shield spells up and protect herself.

Although Barkwith and Yaxley weren't throwing out dark magic, the shock to Dory and Marlene had put them on the back foot; Dory had gone down with a well-timed Leg-Locker Curse and Marlene was stood over her, desperately trying to parry back spells, only it'd just take one more to break her defences, one more to break Lily's -

'Enough!'

For one moment, Lily thought a teacher had got here. That McGonagall had finally shoved her way through the crowd to put an end to it. But it wasn't a Scottish voice, it was much younger, and the figure who appeared next to Lily, wand blazing, was another pupil. It wasn't that Lily didn't recognise her right away; it was that it took Lily a long, shocked second to realise what she was seeing.

Then Emmeline Vance blasted Alecto Carrow in the gut with a Stun.

Carrow had blocked enough to not be incapacitated, but still went down on her knees. That, along with the shock of Vance's interruption, had Barkwith and Yaxley hurry back to each other, both wide-eyed and wild-haired and looking very much like this had got out of hand for them, too.

Vance remained serene and impeccable as she stepped forward, casting Lily a sidelong glance. 'Still in one piece, Evans?' she asked, though Lily could only double over and nod, catching her breath, and Vance advanced on Carrow, wand level. 'No more. You hear me, Alecto? You - blast it, all I want is to yell at you to pick your own fights, your own causes, because you were always my follower and now you're Randal's.' Vance scowled. 'I'd say you're better than that, but I don't think you are. None of you are. And I'm quite done keeping my head down and my mouth shut.'

Barkwith and Yaxley scurried back to Carrow's side, while she was still getting her breath back. When she did lift her head, green eyes blazing behind the veil of dark hair, her fury hit Lily almost as hard as her hexes. 'You're going to regret this, Emmeline, you hear me?'

Vance's jaw tightened, and she glanced over at Lily. 'Probably.'

But Rosalind Yaxley put a hand on Carrow's shoulder, voice low. 'Come on, Alecto, the professors will be here soon, they're not worth it…'

'Yeah!' came a voice behind Lily, and she looked back to see Jack, still alone in his stand-off against Mulciber and the rest as if preserving the sanctity of this throw-down. 'Slither off, you bastards!'

That helped break the moment, made Alecto Carrow and her hangers-on, and Randal Mulciber and his hangers-on, slink off with, Lily hoped, tails between their legs. She limped over to Dory, for whom Marlene was already casting the counter-curse. 'You two alright?'

'I'm fine,' said Marlene in a squeaky voice.

'Mmrfl- fuck!' Dory burst upright as soon as she was released from the hex, then spotted Emmeline Vance. 'Oh, shit, somebody find a house to drop on her.'

'You don't need a house; if you landed on me, Meadowes, pretty sure that'd kill me.'

Lily lifted her hands. 'Bloody hell! Dory, calm down; Vance - I can't believe I'm saying this - saved my arse back there.' She turned to the Slytherin frowning. 'So, um. Thanks? Why?'

Vance flipped dark hair over her shoulder. 'I would have thought it obvious, even to you, Evans. It was the right bloody thing to do. And I've lived with Alecto long enough to know how to beat her defences.' Then her haughty demeanour faded. 'I also suspected something like this was coming. I'm sorry I didn't warn you.'

Lily's jaw dropped. 'They're going to crucify you back in the common room -'

'No one likes us, no one likes us, no one likes us, we don't care!' Jack bodily slammed into her, laughing even as he sang, and threw an arm around her. 'That was bloody brilliant!'

She rocked at the impact, but had to laugh. 'Thanks for having our backs.'

'Well, had to, didn't I! Didn't think they'd get stuck in, but didn't trust the bastards to not throw a sneaky hex…'

Marlene wrung her hands together. 'Oh, no, we're going to be in so much trouble -'

'They started it,' said Dory.

Vance scoffed. 'As if the teachers will care.'

'It doesn't matter.' Lily raised her voice a little. Most people had hurried off about their business once the fight had broken up, eager to not be at ground zero when the teachers inevitably showed up, out of the blame blast radius. 'What matters is Carrow had a go, the first real public go at us, the first real retaliation for humiliating Amycus and the others, and we bloody stopped her. Worse for her, Vance helped stop her. Still, thanks. All of you. She came for me, and you didn't have to stay.'

'Shut up, Red, of course we did.' Dory staggered to the nearest steps. 'But I need to sit down.'

'Me too,' squeaked Marlene. 'I think I might be ill…'

'You did fine,' Lily told her, but also flopped onto the steps. To her surprise, Vance joined them.

Jack strutted up, beaming, and reached into his robes to pull out the packet of Silk Cut, the sellotaped seal already broken. 'Seeing as the trouble can't get worse,' he said, 'celebration fag?' To Lily's surprise, even Marlene and Vance accepted, though Vance looked a little like it was beneath her and Marlene coughed through the whole thing once Jack lit hers with his wand.

So it was typical, really, that the teachers hadn't shown up through the prelude of the fight, or the fight itself - through hexes or dark magic or even the immediate aftermath. They were only found two minutes later by Abernathy, of all people, while they sat obstructing the stairs and smoking cigarettes.

He ranted and raved at how improper this was, at how unacceptable it was, while Jack glared at him insolently and Dory smirked and Marlene looked even more like she might be sick. Vance was indifferent, as was Lily, waiting only until there was a pause in Abernathy's ranting to look up at him, blow a smoke ring, and say, 'Sir, let's cut out the middle man and skip to the end. Take us to Professor McGonagall.'

§

Butter wouldn't melt in Rosalind Yaxley's mouth as she said, 'But they attacked us first, Professor. Lots of people are saying so.'

Lily rolled her eyes until she felt Professor McGonagall's glare fall on her. She coughed and tried to sober. 'And lots of people are saying Carrow started it. Me included.'

'Then I suppose,' said Yaxley sweetly, 'it's our word against yours.'

It was smart of Carrow, Lily had to accept, to let Yaxley do the talking. Alecto Carrow was a ball of impotent fury these days, known to associate heavily with the Mulcibers and her brother. Rosalind Yaxley rarely got into trouble, usually stood on the sidelines, and had an appearance of such pleasant innocence that her proclamations were easier to swallow.

Though the expression on Minerva McGonagall's face implied she was having none of it. From any of them. She made a steeple of her fingers as she leaned across her desk, glaring over her glasses. 'Brawling in the corridors. Reports of heinous language used, of dark magic being cast -'

'I never did,' grunted Carrow, but wilted under McGonagall's fresh glare.

'Of injury done to one another, of which I can see the evidence,' the Deputy Headmistress continued in an arch voice. 'And, as Professor Abernathy will not let me forget, of smoking on school grounds afterwards.'

'I'm glad the Professor's focusing on what matters,' Lily snapped before she could stop herself, 'because smoking's more important than a hate attack from Carrow -'

'Never did,' grunted Carrow again.

'Enough!' McGonagall's hands snapped up. 'It is quite clear that with all of the different stories going around, I cannot safely judge who opened what hostilities. I can judge that you have all acted abominably. I shall be writing to each of your homes and, when the Christmas holidays are over, you can all expect hefty detentions. And I do not want to hear of anything like this happening again. Have I made myself clear?'

It wasn't that none of them wanted to obey Professor McGonagall. They just all knew it was beyond the power of any of them to stop this from happening again, so the nods and mumbles of assent were empty, and everyone knew it. Including McGonagall. She gave an irritable sigh and leaned back in her chair. 'Then you may all go. Not you, Miss Evans.'

Lily had been rising, and froze. She exchanged a startled look with Dory, who shrugged on her way out, and settled down with a reluctant sigh. 'If you're angry about me being involved because I'm a prefect, Professor -'

McGonagall's expression flattened. 'So is Miss Vance, Evans. Of all my complaints, prefects being involved is rather low on the list.'

'Complaints? This is b- this is rubbish, and you know it, Professor! You know Carrow started this, singled us out for what happened with her brother! And you know I wouldn't make up that she threw a dark magic hex at me!' Already she was on her feet, hands waving furiously.

'And yet,' said McGonagall tersely, 'for everyone who claims that, I have witnesses claiming quite the opposite - that this was from your old rivalry, that you began the fight, and that there was no dark magic cast.'

'Claims from Slytherins!' Lily snapped.

'And the claims in defence of you four, Evans, are from Gryffindors, from your friends. And a truly astonishing number of students who were most certainly present claim they did not see who cast first, claim they cannot be sure if any dark magic was cast.' McGonagall's voice went flat. 'I could not punish Carrow, Yaxley and Barkwith more than yourselves based on such hearsay.'

'So that's it.' Lily stuck her hands on her hips. 'You can't act without getting angry parents saying you're playing favourites, so you smack us all on the wrist the same.'

'Not quite. I am choosing to overlook the issue of smoking - and really, Lily, you're not helping yourself with such minor infractions, they make it harder for me to take your side -'

'You've not taken my side at all!' A year ago, if someone had told Lily she'd be interrupting a teacher - interrupting McGonagall - she'd have laughed and called them mad. 'Bertram Aubrey's mutilated and you do nothing! I have to step in and save Kendricks! Alecto Carrow comes for me in retaliation and all you can do is punish us the same? What do you think is going to happen to Emmeline Vance for daring to help me - they are going to f- to bloody well crucify her in the dungeons for that!' And now she was yelling, stabbing a furious finger back at the door.

'Professor Slughorn is under strict instructions to keep an eye on Miss Vance -'

'Yeah, because he's been doing a bang up job so far with keeping Slytherin House under control!'

McGonagall's lips set in a thin, angry line. 'I need you to work with me, Lily.'

'I would, Professor, I really would, but you're not working to do anything!'

'I am trying -'

The word trying was, somehow, more infuriating. 'Professor Dumbledore's who knows where as this school is tearing itself apart and I know you don't have enough support from the staff! Abernathy's a small-minded bastard who sticks his head in the sand and picks on small problems because then he can get off on his authority complex! Drake is a borderline bloody Death Eater himself, and I can only assume he was recruited at Abernathy's recommendation because we are literally running out of candidates to hire. Flitwick can't control people well enough, Sprout doesn't have the authority, Slughorn has to walk through the Slytherins like a minefield, and Professor Dearborn's new and not enough people are going to listen to the Muggle Studies teacher! Trying has stopped being good enough, Professor! The war has reached this school, and I am doing what I can to stop it from tearing my people apart.' Lily stopped, realising her chest was heaving, that her fury was rattling inside her the speed of the Hogwarts Express, and she made herself draw a slow, calming breath. 'I want to work with you, Professor. You know I respect you, you know I'd love nothing more than for teachers to be able to fix this. But you can't, can you? The people attacking me are the ones with influential families who will be on you in a second if they can catch you out on something political. And so long as your staff aren't backing you, you can't protect yourself, so you can't protect us.'

Lily had never thought of McGonagall as old. She wasn't young, but without grey in her black hair, without wrinkles sunk into her face, she had settled in Lily's mind into the abstract category of adult. But as fury stopped spinning through her mind and fizzing in her veins and she watched the Deputy Headmistress, watched her face sink, it was like seeing an ageing potion in action. Worse - worse enough to dump a cold rock in Lily's gut, a true, existential fear buzzing under the more rabbit-like survive instinct that had been hissing away for weeks - was the sheer sense of defeat she could see settle in McGonagall's eyes.

When she did speak, it was in a low, taut voice. 'I am not oblivious to the provocation you have suffered, Miss Evans. Which is why I am going to overlook this extreme lack of decorum and respect for the staff of this school you have just shown. I had asked you to stay behind so we might discuss the issues underlying today's confrontation, so I might offer what assistance I could to the situation. I see now that there is little I can do, is there?' The words were not snide, but defeated and came with a grimace.

The old instinct to please told Lily to apologise. The knowledge Carrow would walk away from picking a fight and throwing around dark magic with no more punishment than those trying to defend themselves held her tongue. 'I think, Professor, you need to look to your own house first before helping mine.'

That did bring a flash of indignation from McGonagall and regret from Lily, and McGonagall lifted her hands. 'I think we're done here, Miss Evans.'

I want you to help. The words echoed in Lily's head as she turned for the door, unspoken, impossible to speak. She didn't blame McGonagall; she blamed Abernathy and she blamed Drake. If anything, she blamed Dumbledore, mysteriously gone at the school's darkest hour. And Dumbledore was nothing to her, a distant headmaster, someone who made speeches at the beginning of the year and acted the senile coot. It was McGonagall who had made her a prefect and backed up her authority even against purebloods; McGonagall who tolerated no slurs in her hearing, who had fought on the ground in every way she could. McGonagall who had brought the world of magic to Lily when she was eleven, confirmed all Severus had to say and dispelled those last, creeping fears that it was all somehow just in their heads. McGonagall who had helped Lily as much as she could when her mother was sick, helping with the letters, making sure they got sent on.

Defying her successfully brought no satisfaction, only a fresh sense of defeat. So Lily couldn't brighten when she opened the door for Wick to burst inside, waving papers and his hands, wild-haired and wild-eyed.

'Professor! It is beyond unacceptable for Lily to be punished worse than anyone else for this fight!' Without waiting for a reply, he pulled out two documents from his stack and slammed them on McGonagall's desk. 'Aside from any failings from the student body to properly report injustice and brutality when they see it - or, rather, because of these failings, I know it's impossible for you to prove any greater wrong-doing from anyone, Carrow included -'

'Wick.' Lily tried in a low voice. McGonagall stared at him with a flat, level expression.

'So to punish Lily in particular would be a serious mistake, seeing as she is the only Muggle-born who was involved in this fracas and so to do so without particular evidence would be in direct violation of the Muggle Rights Act of 1938 -'

'Wes!' That broke through, and Wick stopped short, blinking owlishly at her. Lily lifted her hands. 'I'm not being punished. Any extra.'

He looked between them and wilted. 'Oh.'

McGonagall glared. 'Yes, Wick. Oh. But the accusation is noted, as is your legal diligence.'

'I, um.' He ran a hand through his hair. 'I had a whole thing about having Nate's lawyer prepped for - I thought -'

'You were wrong,' said McGonagall. 'And Evans was just leaving.'

'I was waiting -' Wick jerked a thumb over his shoulder, then wilted, and nodded. 'Um, yes. Sorry, Professor.'

Lily half-dragged him out into the corridor, only to see he wasn't the only one waiting; Dory, and Jack and, to her surprise, Potter stood further down the corridor. She ignored them for the moment and turned to Wick, giving her first smile since this catastrophe. 'Thank you,' she said quietly, sincerely. 'I didn't need the backup, but thank you.'

'I thought - I worried that she'd…' He sighed, obviously having worked himself up for a fight. 'Sorry.'

'Don't be.' Mindful that they were not alone, she kept her kiss quick, chaste. 'And thank Nate for helping, too.'

'He didn't have much of a choice,' Wick admitted bashfully. 'I rather ranted at him until he agreed he could get a letter sent, and considering Marlene was involved it wasn't entirely against his own interests - but, you're alright?'

Concern gleamed in his eyes, confusing her for a moment until she realised the rumour mill must have exploded with Carrow's dark magic. 'I am. Thanks to, of all bloody people, Emmeline Vance.' She wasn't sure what to feel about that, so decided to leave it as a problem for later.

'I thought the reports had gone quite mad when I heard she'd -'

McGonagall emerged from her office, shutting the door behind her. 'When I said we were done, Evans, I thought you'd be heading to class as lunchtime has ended. Wick, don't you have Charms? Professor Flitwick will not tolerate tardiness.'

'Oh.' Wick stepped back, still frantic. 'Yes, Professor. Of course.'

He hurried off, and McGonagall gave expectant looks at the others, who all left until it was only Potter stood there. He gave an apologetic shrug. 'Uh, Evans are I have Transfig with you next, Professor. So we can't be late until you are.'

She gave a terse sigh. 'That's where I'm headed now, Potter. So I wouldn't linger.'

They fell into step a studious distance behind McGonagall, and Lily slid in next to him with a furtive hiss of, 'What are you doing here?'

'What do you mean, what am I doing here?' he shot back. 'Lily Evans gets hauled into McGonagall's office for an open scrap in the corridors? I wouldn't miss that for a shot to play for the Tornadoes!'

She rolled her eyes. 'So glad I'm offering entertainment while fighting for my life.'

'You didn't; I missed the fight, which I'm sure will haunt me for the rest of my days.' He shoved his hands in his pockets and gave her a sidelong look of grudging respect. 'Seeing as, by all reports, you were kicking Carrow's arse so badly she had to bring out the nasty stuff. Is that true?'

'It is, which worries the hell out of me; Carrow's got away with it because not enough people are prepared to stick their necks out and tell the teachers. Who's going to be hit next?'

He sobered. 'It's no coincidence this comes soon after you've messed up her brother.'

'No shit. This is the second time Slytherins and Muggle-borns have gone head to head and we're two-nil up. There will be a retaliation.'

'Sure.' Further away from McGonagall's office, where it might have seemed improper, they were back in the parts of school bedecked with Christmas cheer. It made the professor's angry gait seem at odds with the suits of armour singing carols they swept past, or the garlands hovering overhead and occasionally spitting out bursts of tinsel. In these dark times, a nervous Flitwick had gone over the top to bring positivity. 'But we've only got a couple days 'til term ends. What're they going to do in that time?'

'They could do something right now,' Lily pointed out. 'But you're right, they'll probably stew and plan first. So I need you to do something for me.'

Potter dropped his voice, eyelashes hanging heavy as he leaned in towards her and drawled, dripping with mockery of them both, 'You don't know how long I've waited for you to say that, Evans.'

She laughed before she could stop herself, and mitigated that by shoving him away. 'No! My God, you're disgusting. And yet people like you and know you better than me, so you can make yourself, if not palatable, then useful…'

A/N: Jack's song after the fight is from a Millwall FC football chant. All I can find is that it originated in the late 70s so December 1976 might be a bit early for it? But poor boy's a Millwall fan and it seemed fitting under the circumstances.